Author: Matthew Roth

Georges St. Pierre Medically Cleared, Will Face Carlos Condit at UFC 154

This summer has been filled with bad news and cards plagued by injury. Heck, it was the first summer that the UFC was forced to cancel an event because it was unable to put together a new main event. So when there’s good news, we need to really push it…

This summer has been filled with bad news and cards plagued by injury. Heck, it was the first summer that the UFC was forced to cancel an event because it was unable to put together a new main event. So when there’s good news, we need to really push it. 

And that’s what fans got today. 

Georges St. Pierre announced today on his Twitter that he has been medically cleared for his proposed bout with Carlos Condit at UFC 154.

 

 

This is the kind of news that I love to write about since it’s not super negative and depressing. St. Pierre went down with a knee injury that pulled him from a proposed bout with Nick Diaz. An MRI showed that he had a torn ACL and a smaller tear in his meniscus. 

With St. Pierre out of his bout with Diaz, Condit stepped up and, after some brilliant game planning, was able to capture the interim belt at UFC 143.

UFC 154 will be St. Pierre’s return to action after over a year. The last time that fans saw “Rush” in the cage was at UFC 129 against Jake Shields. The UFC has been planning on the St. Pierre/Condit bout at UFC 154 and with Georges cleared, that fight is all but official. 

It should also be noted that a win will set up a proposed bout with Anderson Silva for St. Pierre. 

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UFC 153: Alan Belcher Injured, Sees Belfort vs. Jones as "Blessing in Disguise"

Late Thursday night it was announced that Jon Jones would fight Vitor Belfort for the light heavyweight title at UFC 152. It was a huge surprise and many were left scratching their heads. One person affected directly by the news was Alan Belcher.Belche…

Late Thursday night it was announced that Jon Jones would fight Vitor Belfort for the light heavyweight title at UFC 152. It was a huge surprise and many were left scratching their heads. One person affected directly by the news was Alan Belcher.

Belcher was originally scheduled to face Vitor Belfort at UFC 153. It was a middleweight bout and would likely place the victor in the number one contender role for Anderson Silva‘s middleweight belt. With Belfort pulled from the fight, Belcher was left without an opponent. 

Well, Alan Belcher went on twitter to discuss losing his opponent.

Internally at Bleacher Report we questioned the validity of the last part of the tweet. Some felt that maybe it was a typo and that Belcher meant to type “spiral fracture”. Bleacher Report reached out to Belcher’s manager Malki Kawa to confirm the injury. 

Kawa confirmed that Belcher had in fact suffered a spinal fracture. Kawa also confirmed that Belcher was hoping to be ready for a UFC return in November. He is targeting a fight with Chris Weidman which will likely be viewed by many as the number one contender for the middleweight belt. 

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Lyoto Machida Wanted Jon Jones at UFC 153 in Brazil

More news is beginning to trickle in regarding the absolutely absurdity that is the Jon Jones title defense after UFC 151 was cancelled. We know that Jones is now fighting Vitor Belfort at UFC 152, but the question remains: What happened to the propose…

More news is beginning to trickle in regarding the absolutely absurdity that is the Jon Jones title defense after UFC 151 was cancelled. We know that Jones is now fighting Vitor Belfort at UFC 152, but the question remains: What happened to the proposed bout with Lyoto Machida?

On the emergency phone call yesterday with UFC President Dana White, White announced that Machida would face Jones for the UFC light heavyweight title at UFC 152 in Toronto. He made it a point to explain that Jones had to accept the fight, and that if he didn’t, there would be consequences. The UFC even went as far as to create an updated poster for UFC 152 featuring Jones and Machida. 

This brings us back to the original question of what happened to Machida? 

This afternoon, Machida’s management team released a statement explaining why the karate specialist is not fighting Jones in Toronto. 

Machida’s reasoning is because he didn’t want to take a fight on four weeks’ notice. This isn’t the first time that he’s turned down a bout on short notice. He was briefly linked to Rashad Evans at UFC 133 last summer, but tried to get additional money to take the bout. 

Regarding UFC 152, Machida had the following to say: “I want to serve the UFC and recapture the belt. I always respect my opponent. For those reasons, I must prepare myself in the manner I believe in.”

The release went even further to explain that Machida would have taken the bout at UFC 153 in Brazil had it been offered. It would have allowed for an additional three weeks for preparations.

All quotes were obtained first-hand.

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Anderson Silva Offered to Fight at UFC 151

Well the hits just keep on coming. This afternoon the UFC opted to cancel UFC 151 in a shock move after Dan Henderson suffered a knee injury and Jon Jones would not fight Chael Sonnen on such short notice as the event’s new main event. It’s completely …

Well the hits just keep on coming. This afternoon the UFC opted to cancel UFC 151 in a shock move after Dan Henderson suffered a knee injury and Jon Jones would not fight Chael Sonnen on such short notice as the event’s new main event. It’s completely unprecedented and hopefully something that will never happen again.

We’ve heard that Chael Sonnen to step up to fight Jones for the belt. We’ve also heard that Chris Weidman offered to take the fight on short notice at 205. 

Well, here’s some more news from Ariel Helwani from MMAFighting. Helwani confirmed with UFC President Dana White that Anderson Silva was willing to fill in and save the event. 

Yes, Silva. The UFC middleweight champion who is notorious for being tough to deal with was willing to fight at light heavyweight.

The problem was that Silva was just a few hours too late and was unable to prevent the cancellation of UFC 151. It should be noted that Silva offered to fight any light heavyweight BUT Jon Jones.  

This is just another small piece and another bizarre twist to an incredibly odd story. With so much having gone on behind the scenes, it’s possible that fans will never know how close or how far Dana White and company were from keeping UFC 151 on schedule.

Stay tuned to Bleacher Report for more as this story continues to unfold. 

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

UFC 152: Jon Jones vs. Vitor Belfort for the UFC Light Heavyweight Belt

IThe UFC cancelled UFC 151 Thursday afternoon after they were unable to convince light heavyweight champion Jon Jones to fight Chael Sonnen on short notice. UFC president Dana White then naturally assumed that Jones would meet Lyoto Machida at UFC 152 …

IThe UFC cancelled UFC 151 Thursday afternoon after they were unable to convince light heavyweight champion Jon Jones to fight Chael Sonnen on short notice. UFC president Dana White then naturally assumed that Jones would meet Lyoto Machida at UFC 152 next month in Toronto, Canada. 

Well, apparently that’s not going to happen. 

Ariel Helwani from MMAFighting confirmed with White that Jon Jones will instead meet Vitor Belfort in the new UFC 152 main event for the strap on Sept. 22. Belfort is getting the shot as he reportedly volunteered to take on Jones on one month’s notice, and Lyoto Machida turned down a second opportunity at Jones after deciding he needed more time to prepare for the LHW champ.

Belfort was originally scheduled to face Alan Belcher at UFC 153, and White confirmed no decision has been made regarding Belcher’s new opponent.

White also confirmed that since Machida turned down the opportunity, he will most likely have to face another contender in order to regain the title shot.

This writer is a bit confused at this news. White said during the emergency call this afternoon that the UFC was waiting on signed bout agreements for the Jones/Machida fight. They even went so far as to create an updated poster for UFC 152 to include Jones and Machida. 

Somehow in the past 10 hours, things changed and a new main event was created. 

Bleacher Report have more as news continues to trickle in about the UFC light heavyweight title. 

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UFC 151: Dana White Special Announcement Live Blog

UFC® PRESIDENT DANA WHITE TO MAKE ANNOUNCEMENT REGARDING UFC® 151 Thursday, August 23, 2012—2 p.m. ET/11 a.m. PT Las Vegas, Nevada—The Ultimate Fighting Championship® organization will host a m…

UFC® PRESIDENT DANA WHITE TO MAKE ANNOUNCEMENT REGARDING UFC® 151 

Thursday, August 23, 2012—2 p.m. ET/11 a.m. PT 

Las Vegas, Nevada—The Ultimate Fighting Championship® organization will host a media conference call today, Thursday, August 23, 2012 at 2 p.m. ET/11 a.m. PT for a special announcement by UFC® President Dana White regarding the upcoming UFC® 151: JONES vs. HENDERSON event scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 1.

 

Follow Bleacher Report for live updates from the call. 

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